Low-cost index funds & ETFs (UK)
An index fund (or ETF) holds hundreds or thousands of companies at once, so a single purchase spreads your money widely. Because it simply tracks an index rather than paying a manager to pick stocks, its ongoing charge - the annual fee - is usually tiny.
That fee still compounds. Over decades, the gap between a 0.07% and a 0.65% charge can quietly add up to a meaningful sum, which is why the fee is worth understanding before anything else. The funds below are ordered by their published ongoing charge, lowest first.
Why should I care?
For most beginners a single low-cost index fund does more good than any amount of stock-picking - and the tiny-looking annual fee is the one number that quietly decides how much of your money you keep over decades.
28 names · each links to its full, plain-English explainer.